Windows Defender

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

I downloaded the new beta for what they are now calling Windows Defender the other night. (Formally known as Microsoft Anti-Spyware)

It’s definitely a clean interface, and it seems to run a bit quicker. A “quick-scan” of my laptop system only took 3 minutes. That seems faster than I remember most products quick scans taking. I haven’t done any full or customized scans yet, mostly due to lack of time and the fact that I’m pretty attuned to what’s going on with my PC at all times, so I don’t think there’s any spyware running around loose that I need to be doing full scans for. Therefore, at this point I lack the incentive to wait for one of those to run. I’ll let you know if I ever get around to it.

Otherwise it just hums along in the background and does it’s thing. Which is good, that’s what I like my security software to do.

The one question I have, it automatically updated itself today, with definitions that were created Feb 12. Four days ago? What took it so long to update? My anti-virus (AVG) checks for updates everyday. I have Defender set to check for updates before starting a scan. I did a scan this afternoon, obviously it didn’t find any available updates. Tonight I get an update that’s 4 days old? It’s a beta, and it was free, but this seems like an area ripe for imporvement.

Tags: WindowsDefender, Spyware

ESBN 58919-060216-506325-29

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